Why was Podolski used in a limited role throughout this World Cup? I seem to remember him being up front in 2006/2010, so did he fall off that strongly of late?

He is up there a little bit in age. As well, Podloski is viewed as someone who provides goals and not much else. Isn't that the same as Klose? Yeah, but Klose is pretty much a classic center forward. Podolski also gets derided for his work rate and not tracking back to help out his fullback. That sort of thing is incredibly invaluable in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.

Just bought tickets to the final of that series of friendlies for the big Euro teams here in Miami. Who knows how seriously any of the teams will take it or how many first-reamers will actually be playing, but on paper, it looks like the two group winners should Real Madrid and Man City.

There's all these crazy Arturo Vidal rumors going around. Like Conte is resigning because he would never authorize the sale of Vidal to United. And that the deal might be concluded in the very near future. There are also rumors that United never had any chance of signing him. I have no idea what is going on.

WDWBurghGooner wrote:There's all these crazy Arturo Vidal rumors going around. Like Conte is resigning because he would never authorize the sale of Vidal to United. And that the deal might be concluded in the very near future. There are also rumors that United never had any chance of signing him. I have no idea what is going on.

Looks like he's had his contract terminated by 'mutual consent'. It's on sky sports website just now.

I heard a story on NPR yesterday about the MLB All-Star Game. One of the questions was why are people no longer very interested in the All-Star Game. One of the speculations was that it had to do with free agency in baseball. No longer are players associated with NL or AL exclusively. It's certainly like that with teams as well. Fans can't say, "He's one of us!"

I wonder if that's why the World Cup is so special. Sure, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man City, etc. are fantastic teams. But they're so corporate. They're like watching hired guns. Great football no doubt, but no allegiance.

No soul. Only a fraction of the passion. No ... community.

I know that's not news. People have been saying things like that for years.

But the World Cup and Euro and the Olympics and touneys like them are where it's at.

So what freaky unbelievable combo of stellar superstars is at Barca currently?

Rocco wrote:Scary thing about this German team is that their average age is 26. They could bring back a lot of guys from this team who will be in their primes or just slightly past their primes but still good in 2018. Klose is retiring. Podolski's likely gone. Schweingsteiger will be 33 and may need replacing (had the game lasted another five minutes he might have died). Lahm will be 34 but I could see him aging well enough to still be playing. Mertesacker will be 33 which isn't that old for a CB and it may be a good thing if he's gone. Khedira will be 31. The rest of their outfield players will be 30 or younger. They also had guys who would have made this team but were hurt. You can insert your own joke about Germany successfully invading Russia this time here and get used to a bunch of them over the next 4 years.

I doubt they could rip off a Pax Espana-style run of winning titles over the next six years because other European teams (namely Spain and Belgium, and I think France) have a strong group of young talent as well. Plus winning a title is really hard and takes luck that isn't always there. On a better day Higuain converts one of his chances, or in an alternate reality Man City don't play Aguero when he's not healthy and he makes it to the tourney in one piece and gives Germany more trouble. It would however not be shocking if they added to their trophy haul either in 2016 or 2018 or even 2020 with this core. Hopefully Jurgen can find a few more Germans with American ancestors that won't crack the German setup and convince them to come home.

redwill wrote:I wonder if that's why the World Cup is so special. Sure, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man City, etc. are fantastic teams. But they're so corporate. They're like watching hired guns. Great football no doubt, but no allegiance.

No soul. Only a fraction of the passion. No ... community.

Actually, one of the reasons why I'm such a fan of Barcelona is their development system and the association that comes with certain players. A lot of the long-time FCB guys of the current generation are products of the team's development system, La Masia. Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, Pique, Valdes.... even former coach Pep Guardiola. Between youth and senior careers, Xavi has been with FCB for over twenty years. Messi has been there for sixteen years now, which is four years longer than he lived in Argentina.

Do they have the big 'hired guns' from time to time, like Ibra and now Neymar? Sure. But the core of the team is, to me, that farmhouse development system.

tifosi77 wrote:Actually, one of the reasons why I'm such a fan of Barcelona is their development system and the association that comes with certain players. A lot of the long-time FCB guys of the current generation are products of the team's development system, La Masia. Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, Pique, Valdes.... even former coach Pep Guardiola. Between youth and senior careers, Xavi has been with FCB for over twenty years. Messi has been there for sixteen years now, which is four years longer than he lived in Argentina.

Do they have the big 'hired guns' from time to time, like Ibra and now Neymar? Sure. But the core of the team is, to me, that farmhouse development system.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I just threw Barcelona in there because of Neymar. Actually, I was thinking mostly of Chelsea and Roman Abramovich, which for some reason I didn't list.

I think my sentiment still holds some water, though. As for Reading, they're as bad as any in the EPL. So ... bleh.

I've decided I really enjoy actually watching soccer. Its good entertainment. That being said, I just spend way too much of my time on sports already, I really don't have to develop another addiction with a different sport, so I'll probably just see you guys in another 4 years #csb